Computer Analysis Shows Ancient Glider Could Get Off the Ground, Defying Conventional Theories of Flight

Scientists have identified the largest flying bird ever found—an ungainly glider with a wingspan of 21 feet or more that likely soared above ancient seas 25 million years ago.

Until now, though, it was a bird that few experts believed could get off the ground. By the conventional formulas of flight, the extinct sea bird—twice the size of an albatross, the largest flying bird today—was just too heavy to fly on its long, fragile wings.